Heya, Soulmate
by Kariah Bengalii
Summary: Slowly, with the help of his soulmates, Bucky can begin to heal. A note to my followers-I am moving to AO3. Find the link on my profile.
1. Chapter 1

Clint had been on a mission when it all went down in D.C. with Steve and Nat and that Sam guy and the Winter Soldier. When Steve and Nat finally returned to Avengers tower, dragging Sam along with them, Clint saw a huge difference in Steve. He was at once happier and sadder, and he looked more determined than ever.

Clint perched on the countertop in the kitchen while Steve and Sam - who'd become an honorary member of the Avengers - talked about how they were to get the Winter Soldier back. "Well, now that SHIELD no longer exists, I'm out of a job," he said, "so let me know if there's anything I can do to help." Steve thanked him and Clint went back to eating his bagel.

For months Clint passed along to Steve any whispers he heard, but not much progress was made because they didn't know where to start and Bucky - the Winter Soldier - whoever was more than experienced at hiding his tracks. It seemed unfathomable that they should fail, but somehow they weren't succeeding.

And then, about six months after the events in D.C., he just showed up. They were sitting the living room, just talking, when JARVIS casually said, "Captain Rogers, you have company downstairs." Steve looked bewildered, and JARVIS added, "I believe it's Sergeant Barnes."

Everyone froze. It was almost comical, really. No one knew what was going to happen now, but every single one of them felt that Bucky's arrival was a catalyst, that everything was going to change now.

Clint later laughed with Natasha about Steve's reaction. The man in question bounded to his feet and sprinted straight past the elevator doors and into the stairwell, where he jumped downstairs a flight at a time. Reaching the bottom, Steve cautiously pushed open the door, suddenly afraid of what he might find.

Bucky stood in the middle of the Avengers Tower lobby, fully armed, but mostly managing to appear awkward as he looked from person to person. The whole lobby was frozen, staring at the ex-assassin standing in their midst.

Then Bucky's eyes found Steve standing near the entrance to the stairwell and he noticeably relaxed. "Steve?" he asked.

Steve's face broke into a huge grin. "Bucky?"

Bucky suddenly started walking quickly toward Steve, prompting everyone else in the lobby to jump in fright and shock, but neither Bucky nor Steve seemed to notice. When Bucky finally reached his friend, he dropped to his knees at his feet, pressing his head against Steve's hipbone. "I'm so sorry," he choked out, each word sounding harsh and guttural.

Steve knelt beside the ex-assassin and pulled him into a hug. "Not your fault, Bucky," and Bucky sobbed tearlessly into Steve's chest for a few moments. Steve slowly pulled Bucky to his feet and over to the elevator, wanting to get him out of the prying eyes of the somewhat-public as soon as possible. They took the elevator all the way back up to the Avengers' common floor, and Steve gently guided Bucky out of the elevator. "Introductions now or later?" he asked quietly.

"Now, please," Bucky said after hesitating a moment.

"Okay," said Steve, "This is Natasha, the Black Widow, Clint, also known as Hawkeye, Sam, the Falcon, Bruce, who sometimes transforms into the Hulk, and Tony, resident billionaire and Iron Man. Our last teammate, Thor, is currently off-world, but I'll introduce you when he comes around. Finally, the lovely lady over there is Pepper, Tony's girlfriend and CEO of his company. There are a few others that you might see around, but as they don't live here, we'll have to wait until next they are here for me to be able to introduce you to them. And, of course, you know me, Steve Rogers, Captain America."

Bucky just nodded, looking mildly overwhelmed.

"You look tired," said Natasha, "maybe you should take a nap before being given the grand tour."

Bucky looked at her again for a second and squinted. "I know you," he said.

Natasha nodded. "You do. You know me as Natalia. I'm ex-KGB and you helped train me in the Red Room. You also shot me about 20 years back."

Bucky blinked. "I...missed?" he asked.

"Only barely," she answered. "It wasn't me you were aiming for. I was assigned protection detail on a nuclear engineer. He was your target. You shot him through me, barely missed. They didn't send you after him again, though, so maybe they thought you'd succeeded."

Bucky blinked a few more times, still staring at her in shock.

"Well, as long as we're doing life stories," Clint butted in, "My mom died when I was real little, and dad was abusive to me and my brother, so we ran off to join the circus, I learned how to shoot a bow and arrow, became a mercenary for a bit and then got recruited by SHIELD, got assigned to take down Nat, decided to bring her in instead, became partners with her, then the Director of SHIELD, Nick Fury, started putting together the Avengers Initiative in case we'd ever have a serious threat to fight against, and last year, Thor's brother, Loki, got tortured, went off his rocker, and decided to use an alien army to try and take over the earth, using me as a pawn in the process by possessing me, causing me to fight with him, against my teammates, and tried to make me kill Nat, and then we ultimately defeated him, and before we were even done with cleaning up we found out SHIELD was actually HYDRA, which wasn't fun for either Nat or I, or a few of our close friends, so basically, I know what mind-control is like, what being forced to kill people is like, what being forced to fight for the other side is like, and if you ever want to talk about any of that, I'm your guy."

Bucky stared at him for a few moments, his mind processing the mass of information Clint had dumped on him before - "I always wondered why we were sharing life stories."

Bucky and Clint stared at each other and then Clint took a few quick steps forward and pressed his head into Bucky's chest, wrapping his arms around the ex-assassin. "I'm so sorry," he gasped out, arms tightening briefly. He could only imagine what sort of horrors Bucky had seen; Natasha almost never talked about her life, but some of the snippets she'd let slip had given him nightmares for weeks.

Bucky's arms slowly wrapped around Clint's back. "It is I that should be apologizing," he said quietly.

"You weren't you. It wasn't you. You were just following orders. You couldn't've disobeyed. I don't blame you," Clint instantly defended him.

Bucky sighed in relief, a little bit of the burden of the lives he'd taken slipping off his shoulders at the knowledge that his soulmate didn't blame him. He tucked his head into Clint's neck.

Bruce, Tony, Pepper, and Sam left quietly, giving the two some privacy. Natasha stayed, being protective of Clint, and Steve was in shock, so he just sank into the couch next to her. "What?" he managed.

Natasha snorted. "Please, Rogers, it's obvious. They're soulmates."

"I never thought I'd meet my soulmate," Bucky said suddenly. "I'd killed people even when I was still Bucky Barnes and not the Winter Soldier, and I thought I was damned then. Now, I'm...I'm...you should run from me, from the monster I am."

Clint pressed himself tighter against the taller man. "Why the hell would I do that?" he asked, his voice rough. "You're my soulmate. I deserve happiness with you."

Bucky choked out a sob. "Please just know you can leave," he begged.

"I know," Clint said, voice calm again, "but I won't."

Natasha cleared her throat, prompting Bucky's body to automatically tense and step between her and Clint.

Natasha rolled her eyes. "You don't have to worry about me hurting him. He's my best friend. If _you_ hurt him, though, I will kill you," she said, then she turned and walked from the room, throwing, "Later, lovebirds," over her shoulder.

"Well, guess that means you can either stay on my floor or Clint's," Steve said, chuckling. "Just ask JARVIS if you want to see me, but I'll leave you two alone." He walked off after Natasha.

Bucky decided to stay with Clint. While it wouldn't have been appropriate last he remembered, he figured Steve's endorsement meant that it was okay in this time. After all, Steve had always been very rule-abiding, whether that rule was law or moral. Of course, he figured floor meant the physical floor, not that each member of the team had a whole level of the building to themselves. How silly of him.

It was rough, for a few months. Bucky had bad days, Clint had bad days, the whole _tower_ had bad days. Neither Clint nor Bucky made mention of the other set of words they carried.


	2. Chapter 2

Thor started coming around more regularly then. Dr. Jane Foster frequently stopped in to see him, since she was now working out of New York. Once, she got carried away in a conversation about _SCIENCE!_ with Tony, and Tony mentioned an interest in some of the things she was working on.

Later, out of curiosity, he stopped in see her at her lab. "What the hell is this?" he exclaimed loudly, holding up a corded telephone.

Jane rolled her eyes. "Not everyone is a billionaire," she grumbled.

Darcy looked up from the computer she was working at. "And this piece of shit has to be from the 90s! It takes four hours to turn either on or off and almost an hour to open a webpage!" she yelled at him. "Why the hell do I have to work on this ancient shitpile when my boss is dating a guy who's friends with the billionaire head of the leading tech company?" Tony looked stricken, but then a light went on in his head.

Two weeks later - it took twelve days for Darcy to convince Jane to take advantage of Tony's offer - they were moving into Avengers Tower.

Tony had specifically sent a truck for them to put their things in, and Jane went to town filling it, especially after Steve Rogers - Tony had sent them Captain-freaking-America as a moving service - arrived to help. Darcy fangirled a bit, but firmly reminded herself that her best friend was dating a god and she was going to be seeing superheros fairly regularly now that she would be living in the same building as them. Still, it was amazing.

The deal had ended up being pretty awesome for both Jane and Darcy. Officially, they were now employees of Stark Enterprises, but Jane got all the grant money she wanted for anything she wanted to research, with the small stipulation that she had to mention in any official report she did on her findings that it was due to the generosity of Tony Stark and Stark Enterprises. Jane additionally got paid a pretty awesome salary, which allowed her to hire three additional interns when Darcy accepted Tony's new position of 'Scientist Manager', which basically meant she had to ensure that Jane, Bruce, and Tony all ate, slept, and showered fairly regularly. It was even a paid position! Tony also told her that whenever she wanted she could go back to school to finish whichever degree or degrees she wanted and he'd pay for it. Hell yeah, Darcy was gonna jump on that!

After loading all of their prized possessions, Darcy and Jane followed the truck to Avengers Tower, where they got out to find Happy waiting to drive their car around to the Avengers' personal vehicles garage, and Captain America, the Winter Soldier, Hawkeye, the Falcon, and Iron Man waiting to unload their things.

Darcy almost passed out when the Black Widow walked up to her to introduce herself. "Hi, I'm Natasha," she said.

"Darcy Lewis," Darcy said, holding out her hand and trying not to gape.

Natasha chuckled. "You don't need to try and hide how overwhelmed you are," she said. "I can tell just as easily anyway."

Darcy blushed. "I just...wow. I love you. I mean, you're the only female Avenger and you kick ass, I mean, I saw you on the news when you were in D.C. and you were keeping up with supersoldiers."

Natasha grinned at her. "I think we'll get along brilliantly," she said. Then she escorted both Darcy and Jane up to Thor's floor. Jane would be moving in with Thor and Darcy got her own room. Jane also got a lab, which was on the same floor as Bruce's, since they both got half a floor to do _SCIENCE!_ on, whereas Tony got a whole one, since he owned the building.

Darcy fell into her role in Avengers' Tower brilliantly. She already effortlessly took care of Jane after years of practice, but JARVIS' existence meant she had to do even less work, since he automatically updated her when it got to be time for one or the other of the scientists to take some self-care. Bruce was pretty good at taking care of himself, though. Darcy just brought him food sometimes when she was already making some for Jane or Tony.

Tony, though, had a tendency to be trouble. Sometimes he overrode JARVIS' standing command to alert Darcy if she was needed or locked her out of his lab if he was busy, but JARVIS had a soft spot for Darcy, or as he continually called her, 'Ms. Lewis', and frequently could be convinced to let her do her job and take care of Tony.

Pepper had warned her the day she moved in that Tony had a tendency to dance across the line of sexual harassment and that she was to come to Pepper if he needed a talking to. Darcy had grinned at her and said that she probably would too if she was a man, and she'd be able to handle Tony just fine.

Sure enough, when Tony stared at her boobs while talking to her, she used it to her advantage to cajole him into eating and laughed when he looked down to see an empty plate. They flirted effortlessly, both knowing that it meant absolutely nothing, and got to be good friends. After that, her job got even easier.

Darcy had kept talking with Natasha after move-in day, and they now held weekly movie nights. They occasionally drank Tony out of house and home - leaving Darcy with a horrid hangover the next day which always made her swear never to drink again - and ordered Chinese in.

It was during one of their movie nights that Darcy asked Natasha whether she'd be willing to train her in some basic self-defense just in case she should ever need it. Natasha was ecstatic at the idea, wanting her friend to be able defend herself, and another week night was soon taken up by training.

When Natasha felt she'd mastered the basics, she started inviting Steve for the practice sessions so that Darcy could get practice against those much larger than her as well. Steve and Darcy got along great as well, and he was occasionally welcomed to join them to see a movie as well, whenever he wasn't hovering over Bucky, and eventually Sam joined them, too, as well as Tony, Jane, and Bruce whenever they weren't _SCIENCE!_ -ing, and Thor when he was around. Eventually even Agent Coulson, Agent May, Agent Hill, and an agent continually referred to only as 'Skye' started showing up as well.

Darcy didn't see Bucky or Clint very much, at first, though, which initially made her suspicious. She was hanging out with both of their best friends, after all - and, well, the whole damn tower. Steve and Natasha were quick to assure her that the two were just having some trouble adjusting again and liked being in the shadows because it was a better vantage point. Darcy rolled her eyes. "Well, at least tell them they're welcome for movie night, too."

Next movie night, Bucky was standing against the wall, waiting for everyone to show up. Darcy smiled at him, pushed a comfortable chair towards him slightly, and picked out a movie. He pulled it further from the TV and sat down hesitantly. When Darcy was done, she looked up, and saw a ceiling tile slightly out of position. She waved at Clint. On successive movie nights, they both crept a bit closer to the screen, until they were able to sit there more or less surrounded by the entire team.

It was several months after Darcy and Jane's move-in that Bucky and Clint finally arrived just after she did and sank down on either side of her while she was skipping through the previews. She smiled at them in acknowledgement and turned back to her task.

"I'll get the popcorn, doll," Bucky said, getting up off of the couch and walking towards the kitchen.

"About time," Darcy said breathlessly, staring after him, "'cause I'm tired of doing it."

Bucky froze and turned right around, staring at her. "What?"

Clint turned to her and grinned. "Heya, soulmate."

"Heya, back," she said, barely breathing from the shock.

Natasha skipped into the room, excited for another movie, only to pause at the tension in the air. Her eyes flickered between the ex-assassin, the archer, and Darcy, before it clicked. She quietly cleared her throat, but it was enough for Bucky to quickly turn his head in her direction. Clint's eyes flicked up to follow his soulmate's gaze. Darcy turned and looked to see Natasha standing in the doorway.

"Well," the redhead started, "I suppose I'll have to pick a movie tonight. You three should go talk or...whatever."

Bucky nodded at her, and Clint gently pulled Darcy up. "Come with us, doll?" Bucky asked.

Darcy just nodded mutely and stared at them. She couldn't believe it. She was soulmates with Bucky Barnes - she'd always had a crush on him, ever since her eighth-grade project on a historical figure, when she'd been assigned to research him - and with Clint Barton - one of the original freaking Avengers, holy shit! She felt like she was about to pass out.

Clint guided her over to the elevator and all three of them got in. Clint pushed the button for floor 92, and they all got out on his floor. For a moment, no one spoke.

"Can I-can I see them, doll?" Bucky asked. He looked like he was about to start crying.

Darcy nodded and pulled up her shirt to show 'I'll get the popcorn, doll' scrolled over her right lowermost rib. "Can I see-?" she started, and Bucky pulled his shirt up to show her 'About time, 'cause I'm tired of doing it' in the same place. He then unbuttoned and unzipped his pants, pulling them down to reveal a mass of text that wrapped around and around his right thigh. Darcy laughed a bit in shock.

"Well, that's a hell of an introduction," she said, turning to Clint. She pulled her pants down a little to show him the 'Heya, soulmate' on her left hip. He pulled down his pants to show her his 'Heya, back' on his left hip and his 'I always wondered why we were sharing life stories' around his right thigh.

She reached an arm out to Bucky, who pulled her towards him and cried into her shoulder. Clint quickly crowded around behind her.

"I just-I never thought I'd get one soulmate, let alone two. I never felt I deserved-" Bucky's voice broke on the last word.

Darcy cuddled into him tighter, if that was possible, and whispered, "You do. You deserve anything and everything you could ever want."

"I-I come with a lot of baggage, doll," he said, preparing himself for rejection.

"You're my soulmate. I don't care what sort of baggage you do or don't come with," Darcy said firmly.

Clint took that moment to butt in, "I come with a lot of baggage, too, Bucky, and you want me, don't you?"

Bucky raised his head in alarm. "Of course I do! You're-" he started.

Darcy grinned at him. "Then stop doubting that we want you, idiot."

Clint tugged both of them over to his bed and they fell on top of each other in a big cuddle pile. They fell asleep like that, taking comfort in the presence of their soulmates.


	3. Chapter 3

The next morning, Darcy snuck out of the bed to go make pancakes. She told JARVIS to send a notice for Bruce and lock down both Tony's and Jane's labs until they ate something. The three scientists stumbled in, Jane and Tony bleary-eyed and Bruce looking at them bemusedly. Darcy then told JARVIS to tell Steve, Nat, Sam, and whoever else was in the tower, whether they be Thor, Agent Hill, Agent May, Agent Coulson, or Skye, to come and grab something to eat. Then she grabbed a giant platter of pancakes and a bottle of syrup and retreated to Clint's room, Nat wolf-whistling after her. She vaguely heard Nat begin an explanation to Steve and the others as she left.

Clint was just beginning to stir when she walked back in, though Bucky was still sleeping.

"Hey," she greeted him quietly.

Clint grinned at her. "He's still sleeping. Normally he wakes up every time I roll over."

Darcy grinned back. "Well, that's good. He needs some sleep. I made pancakes; want some?"

Clint slowly crawled out of bed and came to join her at the table. He took a bite of his first pancake and moaned in delight. "These are the best pancakes _ever!_ "

Bucky stirred a little at the noise and woke up slowly. He sat up on his elbows and squinted towards them. "Morning," he said, his voice rough sleep.

Darcy smiled affectionately at him. "I made pancakes," she said, "come grab a plate."

Soon Bucky, too, was moaning in happiness. "I've never had better pancakes," he said appreciatively.

Darcy watched them affectionately as they wolfed down the food. She was proud that she was able to cook for her soulmates, that they liked her food.

After eating, Clint dragged her and Bucky back to bed for 'fun time', as he called it. They didn't emerge from Clint's room until about 2:00 in the afternoon for lunch.

Darcy led the way into the common kitchen. Natasha was sitting on the counter, and she jumped down to congratulate her friends. Steve quickly emerged from the living room and pulled Bucky into a hug. Darcy absentmindedly figured he must have had JARVIS notify him when they left Clint's rooms.

Within the week, Tony had Darcy's things moved onto Clint's floor. Darcy cuddled contentedly with her soulmates. It was great, having finally met them. Sure, there were occasionally bad days, but the three of them got along brilliantly and she wouldn't trade it for the world.


	4. Outtake

Darcy woke up to the feel of hands carding through her hair. She sighed appreciatively and slowly opened her eyes. Bucky lay there, smiling affectionately at her. "Clint had a mission," he said quietly.

Darcy kissed him lightly on the mouth. "Figured," she said.

They cuddled for a few moments before Darcy asked something she'd been wanting to ask since the discovery they were soulmates. "What does Clint's mark on you say?"

Bucky blinked in surprise. "Now that you mention it, I'm not really sure. It's his life story, basically, I knew that, but I was never really flexible enough to read all of it, and in the 40s you didn't ever show anyone your soulmarks."

"You don't remember what he said?" Darcy asked curiously.

"I wasn't me yet then, doll," Bucky said, voice tinged with regret. "The Winter Soldier latched onto those words, but who I was then...I didn't care what the words were, only cared that they meant that Clint was mine."

Darcy smiled at him. "It's not your fault, Bucky," she said firmly. "Can I read them?"

Bucky nodded and pulled the comforter off, lifting his leg into the air. Darcy tried to focus on the mark, averting her eyes from between his legs. "'Well, as long as we're doing life stories, my mom died when I was real little, and dad was abusive to me and my brother, so we ran off to join the circus, I learned how to shoot a bow and arrow, became a mercenary for a bit and then got recruited by SHIELD, got assigned to take down Nat, decided to bring her in instead, became partners with her, then the Director of SHIELD, Nick Fury, started putting together the Avengers Initiative in case we'd ever have a serious threat to fight against, and last year, Thor's brother, Loki, got tortured, went off his rocker, and decided to use an alien army to try and take over the earth, using me as a pawn in the process by possessing me, causing me to fight with him, against my teammates, and tried to make me kill Nat, and then we ultimately defeated him, and before we were even done with cleaning up we found out SHIELD was actually HYDRA, which wasn't fun for either Nat or I, or a few of our close friends, so basically, I know what mind-control is like, what being forced to kill people is like, what being forced to fight for the other side is like, and if you ever want to talk about any of that, I'm your guy,'" Darcy read out, rage growing inside of her with every word. "How dare they? Clint-" her voice broke in a sob.

Bucky sat up and wrapped her into his arms, murmuring reassuring nonsense to her. "He's okay. He survived." Darcy nodded, trying to stop the tears.

"You-didn't they check your soulmarks when you were going into the army?" she asked.

Bucky shook his head. "They only asked what language it was in."

When Clint got home that day, his soulmates pounced on him and dragged him to bed. He certainly didn't mind.


End file.
